In My Thoughts
by stripesthetiger11
Summary: A request. Chara and Asriel live happily on the surface, but not everyone is all that kind to them. Don't worry, because Chara is always there to protect her best friend. However, when she realizes how much she's been defending Asriel, could there be something more to her feelings of friendship?


**So this was a request off of my Tumblr, stripesthecoon: I would like to request some Chasriel. As for a storyline, they could possibly be in school, but humans are still being harsh to monsters. So, Chara is extremely defensive and protective of Asriel and everyone begins to question why she is to that degree. Then Chara realizes that she likes Asriel and then a confession and then he returns the feelings and then boom. Either some fluff or the fanfic ends. If I need to edit something, let me know.**

 **For the sake of the story, I will not refer to Asriel and Chara as siblings.**

 **Please, enjoy.**

Asriel was hunched over his desk, mumbling to himself as he looked from the sheet to the textbook, solving the various algebraic equations. His eyes flicked up to the teacher's desk every now and then to glance at the substitute that was there temporarily. After a few quick gazed the last question of his paper soon finished, he shifted his eyes over to a particular group of kids over in the corner. As expected, they were slacking off, gathered around in a circle and laughing with each other. Any minute now, something would happen. Something had to happen; he knew well enough in his time as Flowey what happened when there was a change in routine. The teacher was absent, so the kids would slack off. They would eventually get bored, come over, and start to pick on him or one of the other few monster kids. That's what always happened when a teacher was out. Cause and effect. It was like clockwork.

Asriel attempted to calm his nerves with a quick breath in and out. He needed something else to concentrate on. With his work done and nothing else to do besides play ok his phone, he looked over to see how Chara and Frisk were doing. While Frisk seemed done with her work and was currently playing on her phone, his best friend was slouched over the desk, playing with a pencil to try and procrastinate as long as possible. Her work only seemed half done, from what he could tell. He thought about going over and offering her a hand, but she didn't seem too interested in work at all at the moment. Maybe he could-

The young boss monster's train of thought was interrupted when he felt something light, hard, and sharp hit the side of his head. He rubbed the stinging ache as he looked down at what had hit him. Said object was a crushed can of soda. Oh, boy. Not this again.

"Hey, prince!" one of the girls from the little group called, trotting over to Asriel's desk. As regal as the title was, it held quite the mocking tone to it. The girl, Jenny, stood in front of him, arms crossed and hip jutted out to the side. Like all the children that liked to poke fun at him, she was a human. "Geeze, you just dropped the can onto the floor like that," she sighed. "C'mon! It was a snack just for you, goat boy."

"Cans are actually unhealthy for me to eat," Asriel said under his breath, watching Jenny pick up the can off the floor and toss it onto his desk. "Meal fit for a prince, right?" Asriel could hear snickers from the group. He just grimaced as she looked at him expectantly. He turned away from her, digging through his bag to get started on some more homework. Apparently this was a bad move, as he suddenly felt him yanked back by a hand grasping one of the very small horns sprouting from his head. Those horns were very sensitive, and he made that fact known through a cry of pain as he reached up to remove her hand.

"Wow, what a fucking loser!" Jenny laughed. "You're supposed to be king when you grow up? I think you'd be more useful if they turned you into a stuffed animal."

"Hey Jenny!" came the familiar voice of a certain best friend. "Leave him alone, will you?" Asriel peeked around the best he could with his horn in someone else's grasp. Chara had approached the two, a sour expression currently being displayed across her normally indifferent face. He felt his horn quickly be released and he wasted no time in rubbing the base in order to soothe the stinging pain. Had Chara not had the reputation she held, that wouldn't have happened and he would still be trapped. "Got your bodyguard to defend you again, huh?" the bully sneered, looking between the two of them with a scathing look. "Makes sense for such a royal brat."

"Hey!" Chara snapped, grabbing Jenny's arm with an iron grip. "Don't you call him that again, you hear me?" Jenny just scoffed and tried to tug her arm away, but to no avail. "Oh yeah? Or what? His daddy's gonna come and kill me, to-" Jenny was cut off with a quick blow to the cheek, knocking the girl to the ground and causing her to clutch her cheek in pain as she recovered from the daze of having the sense knocked out of her.

Everyone in the room fell silent, looking at the crime scene in shock, save for the substitute teacher, who was trying to figure out just what to do in case of this sort of situation happening. A minute or two of Jenny's groans of pain could be heard before everyone just continued on with their conversations. This sort of thing was somewhat normal to the classrooms Chara stayed in. Frisk, of course, immediately got up and rushed over to her fallen classmate. After being shoved away, she stood up and looked at the two, shrugging some. "You didn't knock her out this time," she mentioned to Chara. "It looks like mom's lessons are actually paying off this time around. Won't she be happy, huh?" Chara gave Jenny a swift kick to the head. "Oh. Okay. Nevermind. Forget I said any of that."

"You okay?" Chara soon asked the victimized boss monster, pointing to the horn that had been handled so roughly. Asriel gave a kind and thankful smile and nodded. "Yeah, the pain already went away. Thanks, Chara, but you didn't have to hit her so hard. Or at all," he told his best friend, who just smiled proudly. "Hey, as long as you're alright, okay?" Chara giggled, giving Asriel a quick pat on the back. "Don't let just anyone insult you. If they do, tell me and I'll sock it to 'em goo-"

"Chara, to the principal's office," the substitute called, just getting off of the phone. Chara's eyes closed with a small wince and she grimaced slightly. "Ah. Here we go again," she sighed. "See you at lunch, Azzie." And with that, she left the room. He watched her leave, a smile on his face. Despite the small bit of disapproval he had shown, he was glad she had come to his rescue. She had been there for him as always. Of all the humans that could have fallen into the Underground, he was glad it was Chara.

* * *

Chara sauntered into the room and plopped herself onto the familiar chair in front of the desk she had seen many times before. The principle sighed, watching her sit as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "We meet again, huh?" Chara chuckled, slumping into the wooden chair like it was her own private seat. Well, technically it was, since she had systematically carved her name into the wood over the many sessions she'd had here.

"Chara, you can't keep doing this," the elder human groaned, head propped up on his elbow. After so many sessions of this, he wasn't too restrained when it came to expressing how he felt at the moment. "This literally the hundredth time you've been sent to my office this year on account of violence. Your behavior is unacceptable." Chara just gave a sort of scoff. "Oh come on, stop being so dramatic. I think I would know if I've been here that many times, okay? I am the one always in trouble after al-"

The principle pulled out a sign-in sheet that had to be made specifically for her. Each entry detailed her time in and out, as well as what she was in for. Hold on- ninety-six, ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine, and this session would be- yep. One hundred. Well damn. She felt like she deserved some type of reward for this. Maybe she could convince Toriel to buy her some chocolate later on.

"Okay, so I'm a bad kid. So what? Just give me detention already," she sighed, growing impatient. She didn't want to be late for lunch with Asriel. The principle merely shook his head in a disapproving fashion. "Chara, I understand that you have a rather… violent past," he stated, mumbling past the last two words. "And I will commend you on only using violence to defend another child, but therein lies the problem." He reached into a little drawer of his desk and pulled out a sheet, his eyes quickly scanning over it.

"Chara, of all hundred times you've been here, 90% of it has been for defending your little monster friend, Mister Dreemuur," he informed, glancing up at the student slumped in the chair. "Yeah, and? It's not my fault humans are such fucking assholes to us," Chara sneered. The principle closed his eyes and set the paper down. "Chara, you ARE human. And please watch you language," he pointed out. "Yeah, say that again. I dare you," she provoked in return. He just folded his hands on the desk. "You attack them for fairly trivial reasons."

"Fuck you! They were hurting Azzie, so I have the right to kick their asses! What, you're just gonna let them bully him?"

"Chara, last month you threatened to cut open a boy who didn't return a borrowed a pencil to Mister Dreemuur."

"'Borrowed'? More like stolen."

"It was just a pencil."

"And it was just a threat."

Okay. Fair enough. With Chara's track record, the child was lucky to get such a small punishment. The principle huffed and stood, going over to the window and gazing out of it to look over the school lawn. "Chara, we can't keep having you be a constant disruption to this school," he spoke, keeping his voice at a stern level as he turned around to gaze down at her. "If you keep this up for much longer, I'll have no choice but to expel you."

While this wasn't the first time he'd used that threat, he did sound more serious about it than ever, and Chara knew she was nearing the end of her rope. There was only so many times her mom's position in school could grant her a free pass. While being expelled from school wasn't too much of a deal to her, she'd promised her family she would at least try. She had promised Toriel, Frisk, and Asriel that she could at least try to live a normal life on the surface, but it was a bit hard when even after a year of living out of the underground (a few months for her and Asriel), humans were still pretty bitter towards them. There were attacks, refusal of service, and even killings. Chara was fairly certain that monster were better off in the Underground, Asriel always told her he wouldn't have it any other way. He was happy up on the surface, despite all the mistreatment against their people. He always said that all this would smooth out eventually and the two races would live together peacefully. While Chara doubted this very much, she trusted her best friend. If he was happy, she was happy. Besides, she was born human and he was born a monster, and yet they still got along together just fine. Who knows? Maybe he was right this time.

While lost in her thoughts, she completely forgot she was supposed to be pretending to be listening to the principal, who had already figured out that she wasn't listening, but just kept going so he could get his rant out and be able to say that he warned her come the inevitable day he had to expel her. Toriel would hate him for the rest of his life, but half the school's parents already hated her for even existing, so it was kind of a fair deal.

"So now you know the costs of continuing with your behavior," he droned on. "I suggest you clean up you act and bla bla; you've heard this all before. I already know you're not listening, so let's just get all this written down so you can go back to class, okay?" Chara didn't answer, her chin resting on her propped-up hand as she seemed to be thinking of something else. He pinched the bridge of his nose again, frustration welling up inside of him. "Why do you protect him so much, anyways? You act like his personal guardian sent down from heaven above.

That might be true. After all, she did take quite a fall in order to meet him.

"So why do you defend him so much? Is this because of some romantic feelings you have for Mr. Dreemuur?"

Chara blinked, now paying full attention. "Wah?" was all she could ask, quickly cleaning out her ears to see if she heard right. "Run that by me one more time." The principal gave a quick huff. "I was asking if your attacks were provoked by some possible romantic feeling for Mr-"

"What? No! You're reeeaal funny, Jim-" "Please don't call me tha-" "Romantic? Seriously?" the student laughed. "Yeah, no. Have you seen Azzie? He's such a big crybaby! That's why I have to defend him all the time!" Jim watched Chara on her small rant, smiling to himself some. "Uh huh. I see," he said simply. "Are you trying to convince me or yourself?"

Oh this guy was really pushing her buttons; but, now that she thought about it, why was she getting upset over it in the first place? It wasn't because of her serious anger issues or anything like that. No, it was something else. Was she really doing all this for Azzie's sake? If she were to be completely honest, Asriel had always been her number one priority ever since they both reenter the world of the living. With Frisk, the girl she had been attached to ever since the Underground, she was a bit more lenient and didn't jump on someone's ass the moment they said a word that could even be considered rude. However, Frisk could kick major ass if she so wanted to (which she never did, sadly), as well as dodge the bullets of a firing squad. Asriel was much more fragile, and thus needed more protection. Well, it could very well be argued that Asriel didn't really need it, having been the all powerful, high ultra, merciless god of hyperdeath at one point in his life as a flower. Despite this, Chara had always been adamant about protecting her Azzie. He was her best friend after al-

Wait. Did… did she just refer to Asriel as "her" Azzie? She sat there, thinking blankly for a moment as the principal's voice droned on. No. There was no way. Sure they were best friends and almost never spent a day apart, but that didn't mean anything. And yeah, the whole beating up anyone who wronged Asriel in the slightest was a bit suggestive of that sort of relationship, but that was just based on interpretation; it was just that she liked beating things. And all those glares she shot at the other girls who smiled at Asriel on Valentine's Day? Totally normal. She wasn't infatuated with him at all. Asriel was just a big dumb crybaby who needed her help with pretty much everything.

Well, he wasn't just that. Asriel was always so kind, loving, determined in everything he did. He was always there for Chara. He also seemed to know when something was wrong in her life when almost no one else did. He could also kick some ass if he wanted to. She loved a guy who could kick ass. He bought her that special type of chocolate she loved so much every Saturday, bleating laugh he made whenever he found something to be amusing was pretty nice to listen to as well. He also hade the cutest fluff on his tail that he would wag slightly whenever he got excited. Speaking of fluff, his fur was so soft and gently beneath her hands, much unlike the hard and wiry feel of actual goat fur (yes, she brought him to a petting zoo just to compare). The small horns poking out from under that fur also gave Azzie a hint at maturity; she adored the way he got so excited whenever they grew another centimeter. Did she mention just how amazing his blue eyes looked whenever they were out in the sunlight? Photo album worthy right there.

Nope. No romantic feeling in sight…

…

..

.

Oh.

Oh god.

Oh shit, it's true. She really did feel something for her best friend, didn't she? Damn, it wasn't obvious, was it? God, Frisk probably knew about this far before she even began to realize it, huh? But what about Asriel? No. Who was she kidding? The chances were more than likely that they would both receive the awkward moment of their lives if her newfound secret was ever revealed.

Chara could already picture it now. She would be standing there, looking at Asriel expectantly, the heat rising up to her face as he just continued to stare at the ground for a worryingly amount of time. The seconds would tick by, turning into minutes as the two stood there in silence, waiting for the other to say something. And then, he would just turn around and run off, eyes bleary in humiliations. Fuck the Genocide Route; this was the ultimate nightmare scenario.

So the question now was: what was Chara going to do with her newly discovered feelings? Did she just ignore them and suffer in silence? Or would she actually take the risk and tell Asriel about her stupid emotions just to get them out of the way? Does she a friendship or completely throw it out the window?

The principal watched Chara for a few minutes, waiting for her to snap out of it. She had been sitting there, pondering for a good ten minutes so far, and it was starting to bug him. It was clear his poking, prodding, and attempt at verbal discipline had been a failure. Well, he might as well go back to the more simple punishments. He wrote down her detention slip and stuck it on her head before ushering her out. "See you next Tuesday," he sighed, closing the door behind her.

* * *

"Honestly, Chara," Toriel sighed, pinching the bridge of her muzzle, still keeping an eye on the road. "Three detentions in the span of a month? You are just asking to be grounded young lady."

As her mother was was ranting, Chara was already lost in thought. By this point in the day, she had already come up with a decision to her little love complication: she wasn't going to confess to Asriel. As much as she didn't like the idea of hiding her true feelings, it was for the best. She and Azzie were best friends, and she wouldn't give that up for anything in the world. They had been together since she had first fallen down and they had been inseparable since. She would be damned if she let a few weak emotions get in the way of their happiness together.

Chara sighed and nodded occasionally to have her mother believe she was listening. Just a few block and she would be home free. Was she kicking herself for her decision? Hell yes. All she wanted to do now grab Asriel by the shoulders and bring him into a kiss, a fantasy she hadn't realized was in her subconscious until her little self-realization. She couldn't help but feel her face heat a bit when thinking about it. Was that shameful or what? God, she just wanted to smother herself with a pillow when she found herself thinking these sorts of things about her goat partner in crime. This was why she wanted to just lay all her emotions before Asriel; she wanted to just get it all off her chest, even if he didn't return the same feelings she had. Just the mere thought of him rejecting her and pushing away all her affections made her scared. She didn't want to lose of the most important people in her life. Years of bonding and endless hours of working to bring the two back would just feel wasted when-

Wait. Scared? She was scared? Had she just admitted to herself to being scared over confessing her emotions to her own best friend? What the hell? God, what had her mind come to? Was Frisk really was having an effect on her, huh?Yeah, no. Hiding her feelings? Fuck that. That wasn't what was going down. She wasn't scared of anything, and especially not some dumb teenage feelings. She was going to go up, she was going to confess her feelings, Asriel was going to love her for all of eternity, and everything would be right in the world.

Once the car had stopped, Chara zipped out the door like a Snowdrake out of hell before her mother had even finished her stern talking to. The young human rushed through the entrance of the house, nearly giving Alphys a soul attack. "Where's Azzie?" she demanded, eyes gleaming with determination. She was immediately pointed to the backyard. While she wanted to throw the door open and go in guns blazing, she decided to keep it calm for the sake of the moment soon to come and steadily made her way to the backyard.

The first thing the Dreemuur girl saw upon locating Asriel was the patch of golden flowers he was sitting near. Her lips curled on reflex. While Asriel had taken a liking to the golden blossoms despite his past, Chara couldn't help but remember a certain taste whenever she laid eyes upon them. Some thought of their colors as sharing the beauty of the sun, only putrid mustard-colored vomit came to Chara's mind. Hiding the grimace, she went over to Asriel's spot of the garden, quickly noticing that he was plucking them from the ground one by one, making sure he got plenty of stem.

"Pretending to be with your family again?" Chara joked, sitting down on one of the wooden borders. Asriel gave a little chuckle at the jest, seemingly concentrated on the flowers, as well as his own thoughts. Whenever Asriel was lost in his own mind without a bit of schoolwork in front of him, he was most likely thinking of his life before being brought back with Chara. Well, this is what she had figured out so far. Her own plans of confessing to Azzie were lost, not wanting to interrupt his self-reflection. Instead, she watched his fingers move to delicately intertwine the stems of two flowers. Once they were secured to one another, he went about adding another flower to wind-up. It was strange to see something she only saw as unworthy of even a second glance be handled by someone so delicately, lovingly even. She found it ironic how she had asked for those types of flowers so dearly, even to the point where it cost the both of them their lives for the betterment of monsterkind, and yet now it was Asriel who was the one to infatuated with them.

"What if it worked?" he asked suddenly, almost without prompt. She blinked and looked up from his hands, brow furrowed in momentary confusion. "Huh?" "The plan," Asriel responded, eyes flicking up to glance at her for a mere second. "What if it actually worked? What would've happened?" Chara felt her mouth twist once again at his inquiry. It was rare that they ever gave that subject much thought, much less discuss it. Well, for Chara at least. Who knows? These thoughts could be haunting Asriel in his sleep without her knowledge. Unfortunately for her, she couldn't beat up dreams. Yet.

"I dunno," she answered with a shrug. "I try not to think about it, you know?" Asriel gave a nod of understanding, adding another flower to the bunch. While she never went into depth with the idea, she had come up with three definitives: Asriel would still be alive after the event, their parents would be together, and monsters would be on the surface a whole lot sooner. Whether or not they would live very long was up for debate. Still, she couldn't help but miss being that close to Asriel. Sure, she was dead, but hey, who else got to say they've been connected by the soul to someone they loved. She wondered for a brief moment if that exact reason was why she felt such a connection to him. Another flower was added.

"Do you wish it had worked?" he then asked, picking up another detached flower. This was one she couldn't answer. As much as she loved Asriel, she couldn't deny the self-discovery she had gone through after the events in the Underground. Pulling off the plan successfully would mean never meeting Frisk, never knowing the friends she had now, and, well, being dead. Her determination couldn't save her from something like that at the time. Not to mention, would the meetings with the humans have gone as smoothly as they gone with Frisk? She would like to think so, but she couldn't be sure. With this world, she could never be sure.

"I don't," Asriel answered for her, causing Chara to snap out of her thoughts. Well, that wasn't exactly the answer she had been looking for. She noticed that two more flowers had been added in the span of time she had been out. "You don't?" she asked, deciding to go along with where this was going.

Asriel had stopped winding the flowers up and presented the finished product to her: a flower crown. There were exactly seven flowers total. Not hearing a protest, the young boss monster gingerly placed the crown upon his best friend's head, fitting almost perfectly. "I don't suppose you want me to eat them, do you?" she jested with a halfhearted laugh. Asriel's lips twitched some at her remark. "Only if I get to have your soul afterwards," he replied, causing a sort of restrained laugh to emit from his companion. She wasn't going to apologize for not being enthusiastic about all this.

"I don't wish it worked because then I would lose you," Asriel elaborated, resting his hands in his lap. "Then who would be there to give me noogies or beat up all my bullies? Who's gonna be there to give me a punch in the arm whenever I don't let them cheat off of me? Who am I going to give all my chocolate to? Sure, you would always be with my soul, but I would still lose the body of my best friend. I wouldn't want to lose you, Chara."

The young teen in question gazed at Asriel with softening eyes, her resolve breaking. She just couldn't help herself. Her mouth opened without her command to do so.

"I love you, Azzie," she said, as if it was a common phrase she used in everyday conversation. It had just come out of her mouth with no prior thought behind it. Asriel himself became silence, the gears clearly turning in his head as he was processing what was just said. His mouth was hung open ever so slightly, preparing to respond, but Chara wouldn't give him the chance. "I love you," she repeated, the words coming out more stuttered and jumbled than before with her mouth being so unused to the foreign phrase spilling past her lips. And yet, she kept going. "I love you more than anything, Asriel." She paused, her mind going blank. She guessed it didn't actually think she would get to this part. Despite this, she continued on. "Ever since I'd met you, I loved you. You… you helped me, Asriel. Ever since you found me, you… you've changed my life for the better. You made me feel loved. You made me regain hope in this world again. You were there for me, Azzie. You were always there for me. And you cared for me. And you talked to me. And you played with me. And yo-you're amazing, Asriel. It's gotten to the point where I can't imagine my life without you in it, being there whenever I'm unable to get back up. I don't understand how I could ever end up with you as my best friend. More than a friend, even. I love you, Asriel. I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you, I lo-"

Chara's rambles were cut off when she was brusquely tugged into a tight embrace. It took her only a few moments to register Asriel's shaking. Her eyes widened and she slowly lifted her arms to return the embrace. She could hear Asriel's light sniffles, but noticed that there weren't accompanied to the wetness that came with heavy tears. Oh god. She had fucked this up, didn't she? She fucked this all up.

"Asriel, I-"

"I love you, too."

Chara's apology was caught in her throat.

"I love you, too," Asriel repeated, words now firmer as he pulled away to look at Chara with bleary eyes. He always was a crybaby, though she would be lying if she were to say she didn't have a few tears stinging her eyes. "I love you so much, Chara. You complete me. You've always been nothing but my best friend. Even more than that at times. I… I just never thought you felt…." The embrace returned. "I love you, too, Chara. You've helped me become who I am. You've helped through the thick and thin. Even when I was… not myself, I always thought of you. You were all that was on my mind, Chara. I don't know what I would do if I lost you again. I-I-I… I love you. I love you."

Chara felt tears well up, but she didn't dare let them fall. Instead, she steadily pulled away and grasped Asriel's hands in hers. She felt a smile crawl up her face, a similar happy expression already gracing her Azzie's face. They looked each other in the eyes, holding nothing but love for one another. She gently squeezed his hands, unable to help a giggle that escaped her, exhilarated by this feeling she hadn't experienced in so long.

She leaned in and planted a kiss on her companion. Her new partner until the end. Her true best friend. Her Asriel.


End file.
